Children of the Rain
by RedRoyalty
Summary: Juvia Lockser may seem like your ordinary schoolgirl. At least, that's how she seems to most people. The reality is, she's far from it. Juvia has a dark past that few know of, and fewer would expect from the girl. How will Gray Fullbuster, the object of her affections, react when he learns the truth about Juvia, and how it affects his own life? (I do not own Fairy Tail.)
1. Chapter 1 - Ordinary Schoolgirl

**Chapter 1:**

 **Ordinary Schoolgirl**

At first glance, Juvia Lockser and the way she ran her life made her seem like your average popular schoolgirl who had it all. She was in the group of girls that all the boys wanted to have and all the girls wanted to be; She drove her very own, deep ocean blue, convertible Porsche. She had two perfect parents that were always kind, considerate, polite, and never fought. Her house was _very_ large with several servants, an in ground pool, an accessible roof, and the perfect place to host a party. To put the icing on the cake, she was in the best friend group in the school. With angelic, top-model, matchmaking Mirajane; beautiful, all-feared, all-loved Erza; charming, amazingly intelligent, bookworm Levy; gorgeous, heavy drinking, player Cana; the lovely, caring, animal lover Lisanna; adorable, loved by all, innocent Wendy; and finally, curvy, graceful, blonde-beauty Lucy. How could Juvia's supposedly "perfect" life be any different from her friends'? Or better yet, girls like them from different schools?

Well, the answer is, a lot of ways. Juvia Lockser is _far_ from normal, and her life is certainly not an easy one to live; For once you dig a bit deeper than the first glance, you find Juvia's dark, dark past. A past about to come back to haunt her. A past that Gray Fullbuster will help her leave behind for good. A past, that will lead her to love.

* * *

"Juvia! Breakfast is ready!" Juvia's mother, a pale-blue haired, dazzling woman yelled to her daughter from the dining room. "Juvia will be down in a minute!" the teen called whilst scrambling to put all her books and papers into her bag. She had just barely managed to put on her school outfit and do her morning routine in time. Most of the night before, stretching well into the morning, she had spent working on her never-ending pile of homework, leading to her sleeping in. Not that Juvia was complaining. In fact, she was probably the most optimistic person in the school, especially when it came to homework. While most kids complained about the piles of work they were given, Juvia would always think of the assignments as ways to prove her worth, putting her all into them and even asking for more, thanking the teachers for the opportunities. This left several teachers confused, especially when they were just starting to teach Juvia. But this also led to a strong fondness of the girl from her teachers.

Once everything was in its proper place, Juvia turned to the medium-sized doll sitting on her bed, like she always did before leaving her bedroom in the mornings. The cute, little thing was designed to look like her favorite person in the world, Gray Fullbuster, and it truly did. It looked so similar to the real thing that Juvia would often wake up and think that it really was Gray who had somehow gotten himself shrunk. But no matter how similar to Gray the doll may be, Juvia always said it couldn't even begin to compare to the boy's handsome features. Not many knew of the bluenette's obsession with him, but those who did found it disturbing to no end. The girl hadn't even seen him from afar in person or uttered a single word to him online and yet she would go rambling on about love rivals all the time! She was very possessive of him and all her friends knew if they complimented him once they would be called a love rival. They also knew that she was dangerous enough that crushing over him was a death sentence.

Juvia knelt beside the bed and took the doll up in her arms. She hugged it as if her life depended on it, lightly kissed it on its head, and with a cheerful "Goodbye, Gray-sama!" she set it back in its place on her bed. The girl meant to leave after she put the doll down, but she only managed to up and turn around; Once she had done that, she turned to look back at the doll that looked so much like Fullbuster and was sucked right into her daydreams.

 _Gray was running. Running as fast as he could. The paparazzi were hot on his tail when he_ _knocked into Juvia, seeing the girl for the first time. He got up, then, being kind helped her do the same. He_ _looked at her face and...and... Hearts formed in his eyes, falling in love at first sight. He knelt_ _down on one knee; Holding both her hands, he exclaimed, "Beautiful stranger! I love you! Please marry-"_

Her daydream was broken and Juvia snapped back to reality because of her mother's insistent voice, "Juvia! If you don't come down soon you'll have to skip breakfast to get to school on time!" "Yes, mother! Juvia is coming!" she yelled in response as she grabbed her bag made her way out of her room and downstairs to the dining room, cerulean waves bouncing as she did so.

"Good morning, Juvia. I was beginning to worry." Sylvia Lockser stated affectionately as her daughter entered the room.

"Juvia is sorry. She did not mean to take so long and worry her mother." Juvia replied apologetically while she took her seat in the stylish chair made of dark brown wood with royal blue fabric over the cushioning at the matching dark brown, wooden, circular family dining table.

The smell of freshly made waffles immediately overtook Juvia's nostrils, as a plate of the delicious food was placed in front of her, whilst her mother continued the conversation, "Don't be! My little girl is growing up, and I know you need to have some alone time, especially in the morning." The woman stated, raising her hands and giving the teen a knowing look.

As Juvia blushed and proceeded to begin eating her breakfast, a familiar ocean-blue haired man walked in and sat down with a simple "Good morning, ladies." and began on his own breakfast once the women had returned the gesture. The trio then simply began munching contently on their waffles, a comfortable silence taking over the room. After about ten minutes, as per usual, Juvia was the first one to finish her meal. She informed a nearby servant of the fact, stood up from her chair, said her goodbyes and have-a-good-days to her parents, and left the dining room, going in the direction of the garage. Making sure she had her keys, Juvia opened the garage door and got in her car. As she exited the garage and began her drive to school, her collection of High School Musical songs automatically come on, making her relax, unaware of the conversation taking place in her family's dining room.

"I'm just hoping she gets a boyfriend sometime this year."

"Why? That'd be one more person we'd have to run checks on, not to mention his friends. I don't know about you, Sylvia, but I don't like having to suspect every one of her friends of being a spy. And I especially don't like the amount of work having to go into those checks on innocent kids."

"Fine, fine. I would be the one to run the checks on them. I'm just saying, she should probably go ahead and experience love and heartbreak before you-know-what happens."

"Mmm..." he nodded in realization of what the woman's point was and agreement with it before returning to his food, attempting to eat quickly as to not be late for work. Though the incident had occurred over 3 years before, the couple knew they were still under the suspicious watch of the FBI.

* * *

Just as Juvia began pulling up to the streetlight where the turnoff to her school was,"When There Was Me and You" began playing from her radio system. This was actually a lot more uncomfortable for Juvia than it would be for most girls for two reasons. The first, was that it was one of her friends singing the song, making it fairly strange to listen to. The second, was what songs she knew came after. After all, she set it up, she should know.

The radio system Juvia had was no ordinary radio system. She had found a program to put in it that made sure that certain songs were played at certain times, using the program to help encourage herself to leave for school on time. The way she did this, was setting the system to play her favorite songs-because of a certain artist-at the ideal time of departure and gradually switch to songs that she strongly disliked. This way, the closer she gets to leaving at the right time, the better her driving experience, and the less she has to listen to the songs coming up next-songs sung by Sharpay. Juvia didn't really have anything against the antagonist, per say, but the girl who played her, Jenny Realight, she hated the guts of. She would sometimes even get road rage when listening to her songs-High School Musical or otherwise. So it was understandable why Juvia would get uncomfortable when the song "When There Was Me and You" came on.

The girl pulled onto her school's property, parked, and turned off her car as fast as she could. Once that deed was done, she gathered her bookbag, purse, and any other belongings she may need for the day, and went inside. Immediately upon entry, Juvia could spot her closest friend and beloved love rival, Lucy, as well as the other two bluenette's of her friend group, Levy and Wendy, one on each side of the blonde. Juvia could tell through the crowd surrounding them that the latter two of the trio were there to assist Lucy, as it was Wednesday, the day the school's weekly newspaper was published, and the table where it was sold was unusually overcrowded. She decided to offer her help as well, as she knew how the stress of it all, especially with as big a crowd as this, could easily fatigue and frustrate Lucy, not to mention the other two, who weren't used to handling it all.

"Good morning, Levy-san. Is there anything Juvia can do to help?"

The petite girl turned to her friend, instantly understanding what she meant. "Um, yeah. If you go by your locker and come right back, we'll find something for you to do. Okay?"

Juvia nodded and did as she was told, returning to the table a few moments later. "Alright, if you could please bring that-" Levy began, pointing to an as-full-as-humanly-possible cash box, "-back to Erza in the SC room, that would be great."

Juvia once again nodded and went straight to work. Though the box was still heavy and strainful on her arms, Juvia was thankful she still retained some of her previous muscle to help with her current lifestyle, especially since she was an athlete, giving her a head-start on other members of the team. Just as she was about to go carry out her job, Lucy, not having realized Juvia's presence due to being occupied with customers, but now aware of her being there, and all out of newspapers to sell, stood up and spoke.

"Oh, Juvia!" she called. Realizing what Juvia was about to do, by the box in her hands, she continued speaking with another job lined up for her to do afterwards, "When you're finished with that, go to the printing room before you come back. I'm headed there right now, but Jet is taking too long with all the tables to deliver to, and we're running out of copies with a huge crowd still here."

For the final time, Juvia nodded and, at last, ran off towards the Student Council Room, where Erza was sure to be awaiting patiently for news of progress in sales.

Both Erza and Mirajane were on the Student Council, along with their boyfriends, Laxus and Jellal, respectively, and Gildarts, a very popular teacher that only got on because pretty much everyone in the school wanted him there. Gildarts, being a teacher, was allowed on, on the condition that he couldn't become president or vice president. Everyone-including Gildarts himself-approved of the very reasonable condition, and Gildarts landed the position of the Sports and Club Manager, a job that suits his competitive and social personality well. Mirajane has the role of Miss Fairy Tail, a title meaning that she is a role-model for the community, as well as that it is her job to find out what the school body wants, and make sure they get it, something that her friendly, social-butterfly personality comes in handy for often. Erza is the Financial Manager, meaning that she gives much needed help in keeping track of the school's finances, figuring out ways to keep the school's finances stable, seeing how much money is being earned or lost in different clubs-hence her being the one to collect the newspaper's earnings-to calculate which ones can be kept, and also calculate what would need to be done to afford the student body's wants and needs. Lastly, Jellal is the President, while Laxus is the Vice President. Jellal does a little bit of everyone's jobs, plus being the leader of the school, and Laxus also helps everyone out with their jobs while being the support of Jellal too. Some ignorant souls would look at the setup for the Student Council and claim it was prejudiced against women because it was made up mostly of males and neither of the two females that were on it were one of the presidents. However, the vast majority of the school were aware that though these two points were true, it was also true that not only were the women in the position they were most qualified for, either of them could control Gildarts and one of the presidents with ease, not to mention working together.

So here Juvia is, at the door of the SC room, a room made specially for the Student Council. She lifts her hands up and knocks on the door whilst still straining her arms to hold the heavy box. Right after knocking, she heard a deep, female voice answer, "Come in!"

"Juvia cannot. She needs help opening the door."

She waited as she heard someone get up, and walk to the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and a beautiful girl with scarlet hair down to her coccyx that Juvia recognized as her friend Erza came into view. Seeing what was in her arms, Erza understood why Juvia was here, and why she couldn't get the door. "Ah, the newspaper profits."

Erza easily and swiftly took the immensely heavy box off Juvia's now sore arms using one hand. She led Juvia into the room, placing the box on the table in the middle of the room to begin sorting the money into an arrangement of tubs used only to hold the money from newspaper sales. "How is everything going? Lucy's table, I presume?" the redhead asked, looking at Juvia.

Juvia nodded for the fourth time that morning, and proceeded to describe the happenings at Lucy's table. "Business is going well. That box is obviously their primary, and their secondary seemed to be filling quickly, if not already full. They've been selling so many newspapers that Lucy-san had to go get more. Lucy-san told Juvia to stop by the printing room as well, before she returned. There was also still a large crowd when Juvia and Lucy-san left."

By the time Juvia finished speaking, Erza had finished organizing the money into the tubs. Now having closed the cash box, she spoke. "Excellent." she said, turning back to Juvia and handing her the almost empty box back. "I left some of the money in there for them to use as change; When you're finished giving them more copies and returning this, bring me the secondary, that way it isn't overflowing."

"Yes, ma'am." Juvia replied, taking the box, and once again, speeding off to do her chore. About half-way there, however, Juvia came across Lyon Vastia, her closest male friend, who decided to follow her.

"Good morning, Juvia-chan!"

"Good morning, Lyon-sama!"

"Where you headed?"

"Juvia is on her way to the printing room to print more copies of the newspaper for Lucy-san. Afterwards she's going to give them to Lucy-san and return this cash box."

"Well, I can print the copies for you. That way you don't have to waste your time with it, and I'm headed by Lucy's table anyways." he offered, effectively stopping both of them in their tracks to look at each other.

 _Lyon-sama is too sweet._ Juvia thought. "Well, Juvia wouldn't want to take up too much of Lyon-sama's time. Would Lyon-sama know how to work the printer, anyways?"

Lyon opened his mouth to protest, then closed it before mumbling "Good point.", looking down with a mixture of shame and sadness.

Not wishing to leave Lyon's feelings hurt, Juvia suggested, "Well, how about Juvia continues onto the printing room while Lyon-sama brings back the cash box?"

Lyon's head shot up with a face full of excitement and joy that he could help her. "Yes, Juvia-chan!" he exclaimed with hearts for eyes as he outstretched his arms for the cash box.

Juvia handed it over to him with two more things to say."Alright, when Lyon-sama gets to the table, he needs to give them the box, tell them Juvia sent him, and then tell them that Erza-san said to send her the secondary box." Lyon nodded. "And, also, Lyon-sama, both Juvia and Lyon-sama need to hurry, they have a large crowd over there."

Lyon once again nodded, and they both took off running in opposite directions.

* * *

"Whew. It's finally over." Levy sighed, wiping sweat from her forehead. The hoards of people trying to buy a school newspaper from Lucy's table were finally gone. After taking care of the cash boxes the first time and then taking a message from Ultear in her room, which was, in reality, nowhere near Lucy's table, Lyon decided to continue helping the girls, as to make sure Juvia didn't become too tired. Lucy, Levy, and Wendy remained at the table, whilst Lyon and Juvia made sure there were enough copies, the cash boxes weren't overflowing, and the girls at the table weren't being overwhelmed with customers. And now, everyone who wanted one, had a newspaper; And everyone on the five-person crew for Lucy's table were finally completely finished with the task.

"Thank you guys, so much!" Lucy said very appreciatively as the group gathered their stuff after putting everything away.

"No biggie, Lu-chan. You've helped me out countless times before. I'm just returnin' the favor."

"Same here, Lucy-san. And besides," Wendy piped up with a smile, "the rush and excitement of it all turned out to be pretty fun."

"Juvia agrees with Levy-san and Wendy-san. She would do almost anything to help out a friend."

"I would do anything for Juvia-chan!"

Ignoring Lyon's comment while looking very thankfully at her friends, Lucy explained to them, "Aw, but guys! It's just that y'all look so tired, and imagine how I would look if I did it on my own. I can't help but feel indebted!"

"Don't be! Think of it as getting even." Levy said cheerfully.

After a few seconds of standing silently, waiting for Lucy's response as she looked at the floor in thought, the blonde finally broke the silence as she abruptly exclaimed, "Oh! I just had an idea!"

"Lucy-san, you really don't need to-" Wendy began.

"Look, if not as payback, the think of it as a treat, on me. I'm not sure about Lyon, but I know the rest of us would enjoy it, if you'll only hear me out."

There was an awkward moment of silence before Levy sighed and said, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt just to hear it."

Lucy's eyes sparkled in excitement as she began to explain. "Okay, so everyone knows about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and how it's coming to theaters next Friday, right?"

Once everyone nodded, slightly confused, and Lyon, almost annoyed, she continued, "Well, two months ago, my dad made a deal with the owner of the theater-restaurant Blue Pegasus, and reserved me the whole front, central table, able to hold 7 people, on the debut night for the movie. I was thinking there could be the five of us, plus Erza and Jellal-"

"Yes!" Levy half-screamed, half squealed, jumping in excitement. A newfound twinkle was visible in her eyes with a wide smile plastered on her face, the same for Wendy and especially Juvia.

"Eh, I'll go if Juvia-chan does." Lyon stated hesitantly.

Juvia squealed excitedly, "Juvia will most certainly be going!"

Wendy, the final one to give her answer, replied, "I will also go, Lucy-san."

"Great!" the blonde yelled in delight. Suddenly turning to a serious expression, she then said,"Now we gotta get to class!"

Everyone muttered, "Oh, right!" and scattered off to their individual classes.

But just before she could run off to her class, Lucy grabbed Juvia's arm, pulling her close to quickly whisper in her ear, "But try not to make Lyon jealous of a certain lead actor." And then let go as both sprinted in different directions, one with a face full of blush, the other with one of smugness.

* * *

 **So there you have my 3430 word first chapter that takes up 9 pages as a pdf. BTW, this fanfic is available on Wattpad as well. I can't really think of anything else to say, really... Bye! :)**

 **\- RR, November 8, 2016**


	2. Chapter 2 - Queen of the House

**Chapter 2**

 **Ultear's the Queen of the House**

The rest of Juvia's morning went along normally, except that is, for the occasional teasing about Lyon from Lucy and Levy and the excited chit-chat with the other four girls going to the movie. And now it was time for lunch.

As soon as she got up from her desk to leave the classroom, Juvia was surrounded by classmates. Some were hitting on her; some were trying to hit on her friends through her; some were trying to get into the "popular group"; and a few actually cared for her well-being. While the school may have encouraged students to have good morals, that doesn't mean they did. Most of the ones crowding Juvia, at least.

Juvia politely greeted them all and pushed her way through, beginning her journey to the pavilion where her and her friends usually ate. But, as soon as the pavilion was in sight and she saw a smirking she-devil looking directly at her, standing right in front of the structure, obviously waiting for the bluenette, she instantly regretted it. Knowing there was no backing out of her fate, she gradually made her way to the pavilion, inwardly cursing Lucy. Judging from Erza's beet red face and the death glares she was sending the blonde, she was straight out ready to murder her.

"Hello, Juvia." Mira greeted with a nauseatingly sweet voice and innocent face.

 _Juvia can do this. Just stay calm._ Juvia thought to herself. Gathering her mostly anxious self, Juvia turned to Mira with a sweet smile of her own. "Hello, Mira-san!"

"Have a seat." Mira gestured to the spot directly across from hers and right in between her matchmaking minions, Cana and Lucy, with Levy on Lucy's left hand side.

Erza sat across from Cana on one side of Mirajane, whilst Lisanna was one the other, Lucy across from her, and Wendy to Lisanna's right.

Juvia exhaled a large, nervous sigh as she walked to take her saved seat. Soon after, Mira took her own. Lucy smirked as she did so, and no one dared say a word.

The silence lasted for about 5 minutes. Lucy's smirk dropped after 2. Everyone stared at Mirajane, and Mirajane stared at Juvia. **Finally** , Mira broke it by asking, "How was your morning, Juvia?"

 _Juvia can do this. Juvia can do this._ "Fine, how about Mira-san's?"

Neither blinked while speaking.

"Same old, same old. Anything exciting?"

"Nothing Mira-san would be interested in."

"Oh? You sure? You never know."

"Positive."

There was a pregnant pause as the two girls battled with their eyes. The others all held their breaths, looking at one raging girl or the other, waiting for something to happen.

At long last, and to everyone's shock, Mirajane, for the first time in her life, dropped it. "Well, I guess that's that." she said, looking down suddenly and smiling sweetly. _I'll get those two later._

All of their eyes widened to the size of basketballs, jaws dropping to the middle of the earth.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh?!" they screeched.

"I said, 'I guess that's that.'"

Mirajane was _never_ one to let an opportunity to get her ships together pass her by. _Especially_ one as close to actual dating as this. All the girls, even Juvia, who was thankful to have gotten off easy, thought she had gone crazy.

"Mira-nee, are you alright?"

"Lu-chan doesn't she look a little pale?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah."

" Juvia recognizes that as malnutrition!"

"You have been eating, right, Mira-san?" asked Wendy.

"Actually she's been eating less at dinner lately."

"Well, either way, have some booze."

"I would usually get on to you for bringing alcohol on school property, but I'll let it slide, just this once."

"I don't need alcohol, though."

"Yes, you do. Now drink!"

As Erza was forcing Cana's canteen of "water" down Mira's throat, Cana was hopeful she wouldn't down all of it; Juvia, Lucy, Levy, and Lisanna sweatdropped, thinking they were both crazy; and poor Wendy watched on in horror.

After Mirajane's mouth was finally released from the torture of vodka, Cana was given back her booze, and, strangely, the girls all continued lunch as if the incident hadn't occurred. They carried out their normal chit-chat, eating quickly to make up for lost time.

When it was time to go, and everyone was starting to stand up, Mira announced, "Okay, ladies! Sleepover at Lisanna and I's house tonight! Get there at 7 and we'll feed you."

As everyone nodded and squealed with delight, Mirajane added, winking at Juvia, "And we wouldn't want to miss Inferno's interview tonight, now would we?"

Juvia, jumping in excitement with just the faintest of pinks shading her cheeks, exclaimed joyfully, "Nope!"

Everyone merely giggled at the bluenette's behavior and continued on to their last 2 classes.

* * *

Juvia knew she was supposed to be, and probably should have been, listening to her chemistry teacher. She knew this fact. But she also knew that the teacher, Ultear, didn't mind, as what she was doing in class today was reviewing curriculum that Juvia already practically knew by heart. Nothing that she absolutely needed to pay attention to. But even if she did somehow forget something, Juvia would be going to Ultear's house later to hang out with her and her family, where she was going to be forced into a quiz on what Ultear reviewed today and go over whatever she may have gotten wrong. So, either way, she didn't have to pay attention. Besides, she was too excited for what was going to happen _after_ school to care about what was going on _during_ school!

Of course, she was going to have to pay close attention to the time. Ultear generally left the school at around 4:15 and had a 15-minute drive home. From there, the Strauss Residence was merely a 5-minute walk away. However, putting in consideration Juvia's stop home for sleepover supplies, she would only have roughly 2 hours to spend with the family, maybe even one, depending on how long it takes her to do the quiz. And Juvia's sense of time was horrifyingly different from reality's. She was just strange like that.

So there she was. Staring out the window, only half paying attention to what she was observing. There were many trees lining the multi-storied building, showering the otherwise dull scene with vibrant, firey colors of autumn. Animals were plenty busy making sure they had everything prepped for winter. _Winter._ Whenever Juvia thought about it, it reminded her of Russia. Russia was another one of her many passions, and she desperately wanted to visit. As she began joyously daydreaming about her perfect trip there, Juvia almost didn't catch on that class was over until someone tapped her on the shoulder and she saw everyone leaving. She blushed, quickly gathered her things, and made her way to Ultear.

"So what was it this time? Russia?"

"How did-"

"Oh, please, Juv. I know you like I know Meredy."

"True." Juvia giggled.

As if on cue, a particular pinkette entered the room. "Did I just hear my name? You better not of said anything bad about me." she said, sporting a jokingly suspicious face.

"No, Meredy-chan, never." Juvia, once again giggling, replied.

"Phew. I was so worried." Meredy fained relief. All the girls burst into laughter, and as Ultear began to gather her things, the third member of the strange family arrived.

"Hello, Lyon-sama!" Juvia greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, Juvia-chan." he stated calmly.

"Alright, kids," Ultear began, "I'm gonna be here longer than usual, so you can walk around, go to the car, I don't care, just don't stay in here. I should come out about 4:30."

"Okay." they mumbled and walked out.

There were still many students in the hallways getting stuff out of their lockers, chit-chatting, or rushing out the door to either catch their bus or make sure they weren't late for something. And, of course, the student council never failed to live up to their duties before, during, and after school hours everyday, all day.

Crowded hallway?

Laxus has the entrances and exits directed.

Athletes or clubmembers having a hard time getting where they need to go?

Gildarts can help.

Students chit-chatting or gossipping?

Expect Mira or Lisanna under her sister's orders to pop up out of nowhere.

People blocking the hallway or having a fight?

Jerza's on patrol.

Overall, with Laxus' intimidating demeanor that you just have to listen to, Gildarts' overly friendly personality and popularity, Mirajane's sweet but dominant and sometimes aggressive approach to school happenings, Erza being the terrifying Titania that she is, and Jellal being the gentleman that makes ladies' hearts melt and rather scary monster when angered, the student council gets things done.

"So..." Meredy trailed off.

"So..." Juvia copies.

The three of them were still in front of Ultear's shut door, observing their surroundings.

"Wanna just hang out by the pool?" Meredy suggested.

"Yeah." Juvia and Lyon immediately replied in synch, nodding their heads.

They began their trek through school, not worrying about getting seperated. Juvia knew her way to the pool by heart, Meredy practically grew up in the school, and Lyon pretty much knew his way. But even if he did get lost, any girl would gladly lend him a hand.

After passing through many halls and turning so many times without stopping or slowing down that it was obvious the trio knew where they were going, they arrived at the school pool.

As they didn't usually stay after school swimming, Lyon and Meredy didn't have their swim suits. Juvia, however, was on the swim team, the star of it, in fact, so she had her own locker that held her swimming gear, and bookbag during practices. And as per usual, Aquarius, the swimming teacher and coach, was still at the pool. Though she would rather be out on dates with her boyfriend, Scorpio, Juvia was known for staying back for extra practice when she had time, and Aquarius wasn't one to waste coaching time. So, because there was no stopping the enthusiastic teenager, the bluenette stays at the pool until 4:15, texting Scorpio of course, when she knows Juvia is gone.

"Good afternoon, Aquarius-sensei!" Juvia greeted, being her optimistic self.

"Hey, kid." Aquarius replied with a small smile, attention drawn from her phone.

"Juvia only has about 40 minutes today, as she's going home with Ultear-sensei who's leaving at 4:30." Juvia warned her second favorite teacher, after Ultear. "Oh, and Meredy-chan and Lyon-sama will be staying as well."

Aquarius replied with a "Tch" but left it at that, leaving Meredy and Lyon frightened at not knowing what that meant. Juvia left to change and came back in her personalized, top notch swimming suit. Being the best swimmer in the region, as proven with last year's competition, has its perks. Though many don't understand why she didn't want to go past regionals. She had the skill for it.

"Juvia would like to work on diving, please." the teen requested.

"Diving?" Aquarius asked, effectively out of her chair, off her phone, and attentive to the others in the room.

"Yes, Juvia feels she needs more practice for it." Juvia answered.

"Got 'em perfect and still wants more practice. Ambitious as ever, go on."

Meredy and Lyon sat to watch as Aquarius stood near the pool and Juvia climbed onto the diving board. She stood atop it sporting a deep sea blue one-piece swimming suit that covered the appropriate areas, as well as her stomach, but leaving the back open, with the school's logo in glittering gold on the front. She was barefoot and wore no accessories other than a shining, gold, blue, and white hair tie holding her cerulean blue locks in a wavy pony tail that began at the top of the back of her head and stretched all the way down to the base of her neck.

The bluenette closed her eyes, relaxed, prepped, and jumped. She went into the water with only about a 3 inch splash and resurfaced quickly, gracefully swimming back to the edge of the pool to do it again. Aquarius praised, gave tips, and had her go back up. This went on for the whole 40 minutes, Ultear walking in just as the usually enthusiastic duo of Lyon and Meredy were about to fall asleep.

"Hey, Aquarius," she began with a small smile. "Sorry, but I gotta take your star away."

"Tch." Aquarius replied with her usual scowl and walked away to go home.

Ultear rolled her eyes at the grumpy swim teacher as Juvia pulled herself out of the water. "Give Juvia a few minutes to change. She will be back shortly."

"Okay, Juv." Ultear replied. Meredy and Lyon stood up and stretched, _very_ ready to go after nearly being bored to death.

"Did someone get bored?" Ultear asked sarcastically, a smirk plastered across her face.

"Yes! It was just dive, swim, climb, repeat!" yelled

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.  
Lyon, surprisingly. He was generally very enthusiastic and supportive of Juvia when it came to swimming. It was incomprehensible that he would complain about watching her practice. And for only 40 minutes, at that.

Both of the girls gave him strange looks. "Lyon, are you okay?" they asked in synch.

Lyon sighed, looking down, and said, "Yeah, just... Well, you know... From earlier..."  
He didn't want to say names.

The duo gained relieved expressions and relaxed. After all, it was Lyon's ultimate rival. It'd be out of character for him not to be in a foul mood. Even Meredy, who had never met him or seen them in action, knew this. But Juvia was able to detain it for a surprisingly long period of time.

Juvia returned in her regular school clothes, hair still wet, smelling like chlorine, and walked over, specifically looking at Lyon. "Juvia heard Lyon-sama yelling about Juvia's practice. Is he alright?"

Lyon paled. He didn't want his beloved Juvia-chan to think badly of him, or even think that he didn't enjoy her company and passions.

"Uh, y-yeah, Juvia-chan, I'm fine." he stuttered. Raising up his hands defensively with a sheepish expression on his face, he added guiltily, "I didn't mean what I said. I just had other things on my mind. Messed with my brain."

Juvia's worried, hurt face quickly turned into one of relief, then joy. Putting on a smile, tilting her head to one side, just like her adorable and childish self, she cheerfully replied, "Well, Juvia's glad!"

She could inquire later.

Turning back to the waiting mother and daughter, "Shall we go ahead and leave?" she asked.

"Of course." Ultear answered and led the group out the door and into the empty hallways to head home.

"Say, Juv, you drove to school, right?" the dark-haired teacher checked as they walked.

"Uh, yes, Ultear-sensei."

"And Mira's taking you to school tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Okay, do you need to stop by your car before we go?" she continued to question as they neared the exit.

"Umm... Maybe..." was the bluenette's response.

Right as Ultear opened the door to go into the windy, autumn air, Juvia suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! Juvia forgot to go to her locker! She'll be right back!"

Juvia turned around and sprinted to her locker as the other two yelled "Oh my god! Me too!" and did the same Ultear shook her head at the teenagers' foolishness and headed to the car to wait. They knew how to get to their respective vehicles.

Once the trio had gotten their stuff, they headed out going in two different directions. Juvia went to her car, and the other two went to theirs.

Juvia arrived at her vehicle, unlocked it, and looked through her car's possessions. Just as she was about to exit, lock, and leave the Porsche, she noticed something gleaming in the backseat that she had completely forgotten about because she had lost it years ago. Strange. Juvia generally kept her car very clean, and her and her friends carpool all the time. Surely at least _one_ of them would have noticed it. Brushing off the mystery, she grabbed the precious item and left it at that.

As per usual, when Ultear stopped in front of her she got in the backseat. The middle one, of course, as both Meredy and Lyon wanted to sit by her and Ultear didn't want World War III to start, especially not in her car. The gray Honda took off, exiting the school and traveling the same route Juvia took, only reversed. After 15 minutes of random comments, laughter, and conversation, they arrived at Juvia's place. The bluenette rushed in, skipped past servants, went straight to her room, grabbed her prepacked night bag and rushed back outside in the same amount of time. Soon after, they found themselves turning into into Dragon Mage Parkway.

While the name of the neighborhood may sound strange to some, if you knew the place, you knew it was high class. The sign at the entrance was huge, with dragons lining the top, and a fountain under the words flowing through a single, underlining bar into a small pool of sorts that the children enjoyed to play in. The sign alone had to have been _at least_ 12 feet wide and 10 feet tall. All of the houses were sophisticated, not to be taken for granted. And they weren't cookie cutter houses either. Getting it's name from the surname of the man who owned the company, Igneel Dragneel, Igneel personally designed each house to be unique. In fact, him and his cousin, Grandeene, along with her daughter, the one and only Wendy Marvell lived in Dragon Mage Parkway.

"We're here." Ultear announced as she turned off the car.

Lyon stopped fawning over Juvia, Meredy stopped trying to detach him from her, and everyone got out of the car.

Ultear was the first in, followed by Juvia, and then a bickering Lyon and Meredy. While Ultear set to work on getting dinner prepped and grading whatever she still needed to grade, Juvia put her stuff in the extra bedroom upstairs and the other two remained like arguing three-year-olds in the living room. They may have been uncle and neice, but they certainly didn't act like it. They were more like brother and sister.

"Seriously, Lyon?! You perverted little ape! Keep your hands off Juvia-nee!"

"I never touched her that way, I didn't even think about her that way! And who are you calling an ape, ya squirrel!"

"A _squirrel_?! _Oh_ , I'm _so_ offended! I happen to love squirrels! And you liar! Don't even think of her like that?! Hah! I can name several times you've completely gone against that statement!"

"You can not!"

"I can too!"

"You can not!"

"I can too!"

"You ca-"

"Shut it!" Ultear screamed at the two, not intentionally, but not being sorry for interupting Lyon. Switching to MDM, Momma Devil Mode, she began ordering both of them around with no room for argument or negotiation unless they wanted to die.

"Clean up that mess!"

"Meredy, get the pot in the kitchen!"

"Lyon, stop acting like naive and ignorant child and do it properly!"

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Imma have to smack you!"

By the time Juvia got downstairs, Lyon was cleaning every inch of the living room, Meredy was practically making a Thanksgiving feast for a farm family during a family reunion, and Ultear looked like she could take down Titania with a glare.

"U-uh, U-Ultear-sensei?" she hesitantly called.

Ultear turned and saw her, instantly changing her demeanor. "Ah, Juvia. Give me just a minute, I'll get your quiz."

As she started to go to her office, Lyon and Meredy breathed out sighs of relief, feeling saved. Ultear turned around and barked, "Get a move on! This doesn't resign the jobs I gave you! You want a longer to-do list?!"

The two did as told, not wishing to be put in a coma, and Ultear got Juvia the test. "50 questions. 2 units. 25 questions per unit. Do a good job and I'll nor only let you live, I may just let you leave."

Juvia accepted the papers, giggling and smiling, hoping she was just joking. _Hoping_.

Surprisingly, Ultear cracked a smile back. She turned devilish as soon as she turned back to the other two, of course, but she still smiled.

Juvia went back upstairs to the uninhabited room and sat on the dull, cold bed. She got out a pencil and began the quiz.

 _Question 1_

Footsteps were heard outside the room and Ultear banged open the door as Juvia read the first question. "Oh, and Juvi-ugh! What is that smell?!" she exclaimed.

"Smell?" Juvia sat there, ignorant to what the woman was trying to say.

Ultear recovered from the shock of the odor, leaning on the door, covering her nose. "It's gotta be the chlorine. You didn't take a shower and I didn't notice the scent until now. I do hope you're not planning to go to Mirajane's place smelling like that."

Juvia gasped in realization. Hopping off the bed she apologized, "Juvia is so sorry, Ultear-sensei! She is sure the room will smell horrible when she leaves. Is there anything Juvia can do to help get rid of the scent?"

"Yes! Now go take a shower! And scrub! And I mean _**scrub**_!" Ultear shouted at her student, emphasizing the word scrub.

Juvia hurried out of the bedroom towards the girls' bathroom. She turned on the water, checked the temperature, and got a towel that they keep just for her. Because of how often she comes over, Meredy and Ultear keep a towel, scrunchy, and a spare resolve of clothes for Juvia in their bathroom. Lyon is the only one to use the one between his room and the empty one.

Juvia got a change of clothes, and got into the warm, cleansing water. As she did so, Ultear grabbed the test and headed downstairs.

"Why do you have the test, I thought Juvia-nee was taking it?" Meredy asked as her mother walked in the kitchen.

"Don't take your eyes off your work; Focus!" she commanded back.

Meredy immediately did as she was told. "And yes, she was. But then I discovered she was stinking up the old room upstairs." she said, leaning on the counter next to the sink.

"Chlorine." she clarified when Meredy gave her a questioning look.

"You know, she won't be able to use that room anymore." Meredy acknowledged, making sure to continue working.

"Yeah, that's a fact." Ultear sighed. "But anyways," she began, pushing herself off the counter, "I've got an odor I have to exterminate. Might as well go ahead and put that room through a makeover."

"Let me guess," the pinkette responded, "Shampoo the floor, vacuum the floor, redo the walls, get a new bedframe, covers, sheets, and mattress, and get a new dresser along with new decorations and sell all the old stuff in a garage sale?"

Ultear sighed and said with a smile, "Mind reader."

"Well, I'm sure me and Lyon can find some stuff to get rid of." Meredy stated as Lyon finished cleaning the living room and walked into the kitchen.

"Yup." Ultear replied, looking at Lyon. "Now clean everywhere but upstairs and the kitchen. You'll get the kitchen after dinner and upstairs with me tomorrow, Friday, and during the weekend." she smiled devilishly.

Lyon sighed of fake exhaustion and got back to work.

"Don't act like you're gonna die right then and there. I _know_ you're more durable than that!" Ultear yelled at him and set to work upstairs.

After Ultear had effectively flooded the room with Fabreeze and had begun stripping the bed of its sheets and blankets, Juvia walked in smelling refreshingly similar to a beach, thanks to her washing set of shampoo, conditioner and body wash that all were scented like the ocean. "Oh, hey, Juv."

"Hello, Ultear-sensei. Is there anything Juvia can do to help?" Juvia asked, slightly confused why her favorite teacher was practically ripping apart a bed.

"On this? No, I got it. I still need you to take that quiz though."

"Ah, the quiz! Juvia nearly forgot!"

Ultear smiled, giggling, and said, "It's downstairs on the island in kitchen."

"Okay, Ultear-sensei!" the teen responded cheerfully, beginning to run off.

"And Juvia!" the purplette called, standing up.

Juvia ran back to the door. "Yes, Ultear-sensei?"

"Give me your phone." she commanded, holding out her hand.

"Juvia's phone?" the teen questioned, puzzled as to why she would request it. She had her own phone.

"Look, I know you wouldn't do it, but your phone has Google and I have to make sure." she explained, looking to the side.

"Oh. It's okay, Ultear-sensei. Juvia understands." she responded whilst handing the teacher her phone.

"Test in the master bedroom, 'kay?" she instructed as the device was accepted.

"Alright, Ultear-sensei." Juvia acknowledged and did as told. Lyon and Meredy were still at work when Juvia went downstairs, but no one said anything to each other as they were all focused on the tasks presented to them. When she entered the master bedroom, AKA Ultear's bedroom, she saw a dark, nearly black bed with a rosy pink blanket that had a floral design of, well, _roses_. She sat down on the bed and realized something. _Wait, if this is Ultear's bedroom, wouldn't she have the answer sheet somewhere in here? But then why would she send Juvia in here to test? Oh, yeah, it's in her office. Nevermind!_ She pulled the pencil out again and started the quiz.

 _ **Question 1**_

 _This question may require the use of the_ Chemistry Reference Tables _or the_ Periodic Table of Elements _._

 _Which three groups of the Periodic Table contain the most elements classified as Mettaloids (semimetals)?_

 _A. 1, 2, and 13_  
 _B. 2, 13, and 14_  
 _C. 14, 15, and 16_  
D. _16, 17, and_ 18

Easy. C. Next.

 _ **Question 2**_

 _This question may require use of the_ Chemistry Reference Tables _or the_ Periodic Table of Elements _._

 _Which element is present in all organic compounds?_

 _A. Carbon_  
 _B. Nitrogen_  
 _C. Oxygen_  
 _D. Phosphorus_

A. Next...

* * *

Juvia finally finished the quiz. She set it and the pencil next to her on the bed, then stood up and stretched. She sighed and turned to the paper and pencil, picked them up, and headed out of the room. She had been in the room for about an hour and ten minutes. In that time, Ultear had managed to take apart the bed, wash all of the sheets and blankets, put all of the clothes and accessories that Juvia didn't know existed from the dresser into boxes, move the dresser out of the room and into the hallway, and begin taking the bedframe apart. Juvia walked into the room and observed all of the changes.

"What's going on? Why is Ultear-sensei taking apart the spare bedroom?" she asked, very confused.

Ultear looked up and behind herself from her spot on the floor, out of breath, panting, and sweaty. The sight actually scared Juvia, causing her to back up a few steps. "Ah, Juvia. Did you finish your quiz?" she gasped between breaths.

Juvia simply looked at her, almost in horror, still rather frightened of the woman's appearance. Ultear understood and stood up, walked towards the door panting, "Let's take a break."

Ultear, sore all over her body, led Juvia, who hesitantly followed, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Everyone had finished working, and was beat dead tired. Juvia was the one who had the most energy. Ultear sat down with Lyon and Meredy and laid her head down on the island in the kitchen where the duo were fast asleep. There was fresh food everywhere and the rooms all looked _far_ cleaner than what they were. When Juvia looked back at the island, she saw Ultear fast asleep as well. They must have done a lot.

"Hm..." Juvia stood in thought.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger! It's not much of an exciting one, though. The only reason it's even there is because the chapter was originally supposed to hold her at lunch, going home with those three, and then her walking to Mira's, but IT WAS ALREADY OVER 4K WORDS!**

 **Speaking of which, 4701 words... Wow... That's a lot more than the last one! XD**

 **BTW, the above was basically copied from the author's note on Wattpad, so yeah. And thank you, _violet2971_ and _StoriesForYou173_ for reviewing on the last chapter, it means a lot to me to know that people are actually reading my work! **

**Okay, one last thing. I haven't even started on writing Chap. 3 yet, but I know what I wanna do with it and I'll start on it as soon as I can. I know the first chapter was pretty boring except for some suspense, and this chapter's main positive quality was comedy, but the next chapter and the one after are where the plot really start to kick in. And I know these two chapters were published one right after the other, but that was because they were pre-written. This next one may take a while, 'cause I write/update slowly, but my chapters, as you can see, are generally pretty long. Although, I have to admit that I can't say how long Chapter 3 will be, but 4 will likely be pretty long.**

 **Anywho, please leave me reviews! They are much appreciated! 'Til next time! ;)**

 **-RR, November 8, 2016**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Strauss Residence

**Chapter 3: The Strauss Residence**

Ultear awoke to the sound of a door closing and the discovery that she was drooling all over her arm and kitchen counter. She sat up, quickly wiping the saliva away in an attempt to cover up the fact that it had occurred. She looked across the kitchen island that she was sitting at and found her younger brother and daughter in the same exhausted condition she had been in only moments before. She was still sore from working on tearing apart that extra bed, and she could imagine how the other two felt, running around in fear, trying to do _exactly_ what she told them to _exactly_ when she told them to do it.

Remembering the day's events, she lightly giggles and smiles fondly at the young people surrounding her that she has come to know and love as her family. _I love my life..._ she thought. She could just imagine her mother being so proud of her for the happy life that she made for herself. She had her dream job, teaching high school students that would soon be in college in a subject that she held dear to her heart. She had learnt to get along with her siblings, though adopted, in a dominant but mostly peaceful kind of way. She had rescued a child that she couldn't possibly love more from the cruel world surrounding her. In fact, she could vividly remember the day she met dear Meredy.

* * *

 _ **Ten Years Earlier**_

 _A twenty-year-old Ultear was driving as fast as she possibly could in her panic-filled frenzy to get to East Count Mall. And she wasn't panicking for regular girly-girl issues. Only moments before she had been on the phone with her mother. During the brief call with the woman, she had struggled to decipher her incoherent words that boiled down to meaning that Ultear's little brother was headed for the mall to kill someone in an act of revenge. He had stolen the hidden pistol that had belonged to her father that had left her and her mother, and as soon as the news reached Ultear she too hurried to reach the mall before anything bad happened. When she pulled up to the mall it was surrounded by police cars and sirens were wailing at an intolerable noise. Dreading what would become of it, Ultear went to the police officers requesting permission to enter. "My family's in there!" she argued. Eventually she was allowed through._

 _As she walked to the center of the hall, heart beating, adrenaline pumping, not sure what to make of the square made of "CAUTION" tape. She felt her legs turn to goo, but kept walking like the most prestigious businesswoman in the world. As she neared she saw medics talking to a boy who seemed to space out and not really know what was going on. She recognized the young figure as her brother and informed them of the fact. Then they did something unexpected._

 _Instead of asking her to comfort or talk to her younger sibling, they instead led her inside the square. She had a puzzled look on her face, trying not to believe what she knew was true. A young woman turned to her, squatting with one hand holding an end of the white sheet, "Ma'am, we need to know if you recognize this person."_

 _As soon as she lifted the sheet, confirming Ultear's dreads, Ultear collapsed. She felt no shame and let it all go. She was crying so hard that she might have made an ocean. She was wailing as if someone had been torturing her with the most painful methods on Earth._

 _"Aaaaaahhh! Mom! Aaaaaahhh!" she howled with such emotion that some medics and policemen started to cry as well. After all, the two were very close, and most of the police officers as well as some medics knew the woman under the sheets as well._

 _As she looked at the woman who gave her life that had been lively and well just days before, she noticed how clean the shot had been, with no damage to the rest of her face, how she had begun to pale even after having died so recently, and how lifeless her now cold, dead eyes were. The sight was the most painful thing Ultear had ever seen in her life._

 _People had to come and pick up the young adult just to get her away from the body. She refused to leave and instead sat on an abandoned bench to settle herself down. She curled up with her knees to her chest, her head to her knees, and cried her giant heart out. 20 was far too young an age to lose your one and only parent left, and Ultear was a affected massively._ But _, she realized,_ I've got a brother in shock that had to see it happen. I have to stay strong. For him. For me. For all of my family.

 _She soon became her cool, collected, lady-like self and had the idea to walk around to try and understand just what happened here. Just as she was passing Build-a-Bear, a store the police had already checked for survivors, she swore she heard a faint cry. Ultear stopped in her tracks and turned to the tore up building. As she cautiously entered the children's store, she heard the cry get louder. She could now make out a child not even ten-years-old's wailing just as she had been doing minutes before. She felt as if it were coming from below her, and as she turned down the wooden floor, she discovered a hidden door of sorts._

 _She got on her hands and knees and worked to get said "door" open. Though taking much effort and a screwdriver she happened to have, Ultear managed to get it open, and discovered a hidden child inside. The poor girl that was crying her heart out in a secret mini-chamber under the Build-a-Bear store had short, pink hair, sporting red ear muffs, a tan button-down shirt, a denim skirt, and brown boots. Ultear immediately loved the girl, feeling as if they had something in common. She swiftly picked the girl up and held her in a tight hug._

 _"What's your name?"_

 _Sniffling, the girl replied, "M-Meredy."_

* * *

After reminiscing about that fateful encounter, Ultear turned to the clock, seeing that it was about 7. She deduced that the door she heard was likely Juvia leaving for Mira's, and decided to take a look at what the bluenette had been doing for the past, say, 45 minutes that Ultear and the others had been asleep. As it turned out, she had actually done a lot. She dished up dinner, made sure things that needed to be put in the fridge were put in, cleaned up the stove and counters, washed the dishes, put the dishes away, set out the family's favorite movie and favorite snacks for relaxing in the living room when they awoke, and she had also organized and, to the best of her ability in the time that she had, taken apart a lot of the bed pieces for Ultear, all without waking up the trio. As to whether that was due to their exhaustion, Juvia's effort to be quiet, or a mixture of both, Ultear didn't know, but she did it.

Ultear woke the other two drool monsters up, but not before taking lots and lots of pictures, of course, much to the Lyon and Meredy's outrage. After the duo had calmed down, the family of three took the plates that Juvia had prepared for each of them, knowing _exactly_ what each of them would eat and how they liked it done. They sat in the living room, hit **Play** on the menu of _Revenge of the Bridesmaids_ , which even Lyon seemed to enjoy, and settled down for the night.

Or at least, they _would've_ settled down for the night if it weren't for the phone that began ringing as soon as their bottoms touched the couch.

"I'll get it." Meredy volunteered.

She went to the family's ice blue home phone and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey."

The pinkette's face instantly lit up at the voice on the other side.

* * *

 _Thump. Thump. Thump._

Juvia stood patiently as she waited for someone to answer the baby pink door attached to the pale yellow house.

"Juvia! Thank god you're here!" Lisanna exclaimed with an exasperated look to her when she saw who was knocking on their front door.

"Lisanna-san! What's wrong?!" the bluenette responded worriedly.

Panting and out of breathe, the girl stepped outside onto the porch, making sure to close the door behind her, and began to explain. "You know how Erza made Mira-nee chug that booze earlier?"

Juvia hesitantly nodded, thinking that she already knew what had happened.

"And you know how alcohol takes a while until its affects show on her?"

Another nod. Juvia had never been around to actually see the results herself, but she had heard stories. And she did _not_ want to live them.

Sighing, Lisanna said, "Let me tell you what you need to know. Mira-nee generally doesn't drink alcohol. She effectively stopped a few years ago. But when she does, she tries to keep it to one glass. You following so far?"

"Mm-hmm." the bluenette replied, giving an affirmative. She knew Mirajane had drank when she was younger and a "Wild Child", but she was glad she had stopped the year before Juvia started attending Fairy Tail High due to Lisanna threatening to leave, and actually leaving, because of her drinking problem.

"Well," the whitehead continued, "the reason for it is that when Mira-nee drinks more than that, in the stalled effects, she begins to have a craving for more. I know you've heard about her previous drinking problem, and it brings that side of her out in the open. When we got home, she started ravaging the cupboards and anyplace she could think of for alcohol. When I realized what happened, I gave her a bottle of booze."

"Wait, Lisanna-san," Juvia interrupted.

"What?" Lisanna asked.

"Mira-san went looking for alcohol and Lisanna-san gave it to her?" the bluenette questioned with a puzzled look on her face.

"Mira-nee looking for alcohol is like Erza looking for strawberry cake. You _do not_ want to get in the way. Letting the alcohol's effects wear off is even harder to go through than just giving more of it to her. That's why we came up with a technique."

"Technique?"

"Yup. When the alcohol's effects kick in, Mira-nee's body wants more of it. We already said that much. But the more alcohol she consumes, the sooner the effects are seen. The more effects activated, the more booze she wants. _So_ , we give her more and more of it continuously until she's had so much she passes out. It's better than keeping her away from more because her hangover self is very passive, while her 'Give-Me-More-Booze' self is so aggressive we may not be able to hold her down when all of us are here working together. Really, it's just easier."

Juvia hesitantly nodded, partially scared, partially thinking her friend was crazy, and yet somehow understanding the situation.

"Well, I think it's best if we wait for the others." the whitehead suggested casually whilst turning her head to look at the road.

Just after that, a familiar pink limo pulled up in front of the driveway. The driver, a tall, visibly muscular, Caucasian man with slicked back, white hair dressed in a fancy servant's tuxedo and black sunglasses protecting his eyes, stepped out of the front portion of the car. Walking to the right side of the car, the man proceeded to open the car doors, revealing 5 teenage women sitting patiently inside.

"Speak of the devil..." Lisanna muttered under her breath.

The man, who Juvia and Lisanna recognized to be Capricorn, Lucy's personal driver and bodyguard, offered his hand to help the blonde out of the car, to which she accepted. He would have done the same for an older redhead, but she had already exited the vehicle, so he helped the two blue-haired shorties out, as Cana had also helped herself to the door.

"Thanks, Capricorn!" Lucy yelled as he got in the long car and left, but not before waving goodbye.

As the group turned around to face the two Junior High Schoolers, Lisanna and Juvia creepily asked in synch, "Why were y'all in the same car?"

After shivering about the strange occurrence, Lucy explained. "Erza told Cana she couldn't drive because of her drinking and that she would have to ride with her. Erza doesn't have access to a car, so they thought they could come with Levy. Then they realized that none of them, including Levy, wanted to be crammed in her tiny car. So, they finally called me, and because Wendy was also over, we all ended up riding in my car."

"Wow." the two on the porch responded to the story.

"Anyways. Why are you two on the porch? Even moreso, without Mirajane?" Erza inquired.

Lisanna said nothing, simply leaning back her head, let her eyes droop and tongue hang as she stuck out her thumb and pinkie finger, held her hand near her head, and moved her hand with her head as she nodded, impersonated a person drinking.

"Ohhh..." the five automatically responded in realization.

"This is my fault." Erza stated. "I'll get the booze."

"How?" Levy questioned. "You can't buy it, you're not of age. Where are you gonna get it?"

"Gildarts."

"You think he'd give it to you?" Lucy asked, doubting he would give it to her. Along with teaching P.E. and watching over school teams in all sports and clubs, Gildarts owned a bar and restaurant that Cana, his daughter, frequented, much to his pleasure. So giving Erza booze to deal with Mira would be a waste of money in his eyes. Unless...

"I've got an idea." Titania stated with a suspicious grin plastered on her face.

* * *

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, _**no**_!" Cana practically screamed in disapproval of the plan as Erza drove to Fairy Hills. Just because she didn't have a car, doesn't mean she didn't know how to drive.

"Would you rather wait alone with Mirajane for her to sober up?" Erza threateningly questioned, making a good point.

Cana gulped. "N-no."

"I rest my case."

They pulled into the parking lot in Lisanna's white Nissan Leaf, parked, got out, and headed inside.

* * *

 _- **Meanwhile** -_

" _So_ , girlzies." Mirajane said, strutting around the living room in her old attire, a bottle of vodka in her right hand and her other hand on her hip. With a crazy look on her face, she quickly lifted and lowered her eyebrows as she said, "Let's play."

Everyone gulped.

 _Erza, Cana, hurry up!_

* * *

 _- **Back at Fairy Hills** -_

As the two teenagers walked in, everyone instantly recognized them. After all, one's a celebrity and the owner's daughter, and the other is the great Titania.

"Cana!" a familiar, affectionate, feminine voice cried.

What they turned to see was...

Gildarts. How seeing his daughter made him so feminine, no one knows, but everyone knows that it's kinda creepy and Cana despises it.

"Yo, dad. Can we talk with you in private?"

"Of course, munchkin!" he exclaimed with hearts for eyes.

* * *

 _- **Strauss Residence** -_

"Oh, _girlzies_!" Mirajane drunkenly called.

They were playing the game "Hide and Go Seek: Truth or Dare". Mira was, of course, the one searching. Whenever she found someone she would laugh maniacally and yell, "Truth or dare?!". Her truths were about as bad as her dares, so no one really knew what to choose. But if someone took too long deciding, she'd choose for them. But no matter what, everyone was guaranteed to get something about who she shipped them with. It was rather terrifying.

Wendy hid in a closet with Lisanna, Juvia in the basement, Lucy in the attic, and Levy behind the couch.

Mira knew her living room. Levy was the first to go down. "Aha!" Mira exclaimed.

"Ahhh!" Levy screamed.

"Hahahahaha! Levy McGarden, truth or dare?!" Mirajane laughed after taking a swig of vodka.

"D-d-d-d-d no t-t-t-r-tr-"

"Truth, huh?"

Levy nodded.

"Alright. Hehehehehe."

* * *

 _- **Fairy Hills** -_

Once the three were in his office where no one could hear their conversation, Cana began her job in the mission: sweet talk Gildarts. It was something only she could do, and not even Erza could get the alcohol out of him, no matter what she did or how hard she tried.

"We need booze."

"Booze?"

"Long story short, Mira drank some of mine, and now we need enough to get her to pass out."

"Why?"

"Do I have to explain it?"

"Maybe."

"Look, if we don't get her to pass out and wake up on hangover, it'll start to wear off, in which she'll practically kill us."

"So don't stay over there. Simple."

"Make me."

"Want me to take that offer?"

"You couldn't if you tried."

"And why, may I ask, do you think that?"

"I'd cry."

Gildarts gasped, hand over his heart at the thought of making his baby girl cry.

"So. What do you say?"

"Alright, alright." he surrendered, arms raised.

The girls smiled. Victory was theirs.

* * *

 _- **Strauss Residence** -_

Mira was just about to take another swig out of her bottle when she realized...

The bottle was empty.

"Oi! I'm out of my stuff! I want more! Get me some more!" Mira started yelling as she rampaged throughout the house, pulling everyone out of their hiding spots as if she already knew where they were.

Just in the nick of time, an engine is heard from out front and Erza and Cana rush in the house. Erza, with a bottle in her hand, goes straight for Mirajane, shoving the beer down her throat. And thus begins Mission #2: Make Mira Pass Out.

In the end, it worked out. Erza, Cana, and Lisanna were assigned to make sure she didn't stop drinking, minus breathing breaks. Wendy, Lucy, Levy, and Juvia were assigned to carrying in and making sure there was enough beer for them to grab and flood her throat.

Gildarts had given the _perfect_ amount of alcohol to the girls, as once she finished the last one, she passed out. There was enough to make her pass out, but not so much she had leftovers that would eventually be left in the fridge to grow mold on.

All the girls sighed. The task was over. Now they just had to wait for her to wake up.

 _Errrrrrrrrrr._

"What was _that_?" Lucy asked.

"Was that Erza-san's stomach?" Juvia questioned.

"N-no. It was..." the redhead denied, burning a crimson red at her showing any sign of weakness.

 _Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr._

At that, all of the girls giggled. All except Titania, of course. Lisanna piped up. "Well, I suppose we did promise everyone food."

"Juvia can assist in the preparation." the bluenette offered her services.

Taking charge, Erza ordered, "Alright, Lisanna, Wendy, Lucy, you're on kitchen duty. Juvia, you'd be better off watching Mirajane with me. I'll need help getting her upstairs. As for Cana and Levy, I'll leave it to you two to set the table and do the dishes. Everyone clear?"

Though Juvia was disappointed at her placement, and several disagreed with how little work Erza and Juvia seemed to have to do, everyone simply nodded in submission, not daring go against her orders. "Get to work."

Dragging Mirajane up the stairs turned out to be far more work than Juvia had anticipated. Seeing as she was passed out, it was understandable that she'd be dead weight. But even with the great Titania helping, she still couldn't shake off the feeling that she was trying to carry 5 tons of sleeping piranhas that were only separated from her by glass that they could easily break and couldn't decide if it was more important to make sure they kept them sleeping or to not be crushed by their weight. But, agony as it may feel to Juvia, they managed to get the whitehead up the stairs in not even 15 minutes, though Juvia would say 15 centuries. Soon after, they had her in her bedroom lying in her bed.

Mirajane's bedroom was larger than most, and included many more things than most as well, on request to Igneel and the Strauss siblings' adoptive parents who were generally away from home, but that's for another time. The room itself was bigger than the living room, not to mention the garage-sized bathroom connecting to the wall opposite the bedroom door. When you entered, the first thing you would think is: " _Pale._ "

The walls were a buttery créme type color with pale rose colored carpet and a pure white, flat ceiling. On the left wall there were two windows. The first, being the closest to the entrance of the bedroom, was a completely white, 5-foot-tall, 8-foot-wide, bay window that was centered in the wall with two feet above and below it, stretched 2 feet in front of the house, had lavender cushioning for Mirajane and her guests to sit on, was empty except for Mira's guitar, and had two 5-foot-tall, 2-foot-wide, parallel, also-centered-on-the-wall bookshelves on either side of it. Said bookshelves were made of ivory, had beautiful designs fit for a princess, and were filled to the brim. The one on the left was full of clutter; old magazines, new magazines, things Mira thought might inspire a song out of her, and an overall mess. The other one was quite tidier than it's junkyard of a counterpart, being neatly stacked with sheet music in four of its five shelves according to type: "Loved Songs", "Liked Songs", "Songs Written by Mira", and "Songs Disliked/Hated But Necessary for School Chorus". The final shelf, being at the top, was absolutely stuffed with photo albums. Mirajane's friends weren't even sure how many there were or what they all contained, but they weren't about to ask her and then go through the process of being bored for hours on end as she reminisced about "The Good Ol' Days" that most of them weren't even there for.

Directly across the room, on the right wall, your eyes would find Mira's very own fire place, that had an elegant, French-style mantel made of marble and had its own chimney sticking out of the roof of the house. In front of said fireplace, you could see a large, sectional, pale blue sofa with several white pillows on it with matching pale blue armchairs, one on each side, and one white pillow per armchair. The sofa and armchairs combined with the fireplace boxed in the large, also ivory, low-lying coffee table that held many things of Mira and Lisanna's, as well as some things of the others'; a stack of Mira's sheet music, Mira's phone, a blank staff where Mira had obviously failed dismally at getting a new song put together, several magazines featuring Inferno, Jenny Realight, and what the girls have come to nickname "Jenny's Minions", Lisanna's Humane Society volunteer paperwork, several of Lisanna's books on strange, bizarre, and beautiful creatures, a few of Lisanna's pet care books for her entertainment and education, along with Wendy's book of birds that Lisanna borrowed, the makeup bag Lucy forgot and left here, Levy's laptop that had a Levy-made computer program Mira was borrowing, the cat-themed birthday present for Milliana that Erza stashed away here to keep it from the cat-crazed girl until her actual birthday, Juvia's White Noise Machine Mira borrowed, and, last but not least, many of Cana's booze bottles under a variety of different names tucked away among many hidden things in the table's false bottom.

In between the back of the sofa and the bay window with bookshelves was simply a space to walk and get from the first half of the room to the second half. If you walked through this path you would end up facing the left side of Mirajane's gargantuan four-poster bed that could hold ten high school girls _laying down_ and _still_ have room to spare, and was placed with the head of the bed aligned snugly with the second window, a pure white, half-circle arch window that was 6 feet wide and 7 feet tall, also centered in the wall, leaving one foot of space in between the top of the window and the ceiling and one foot of space in between the bottom of the window and the floor.

The bed had fancy designs making up its ivory frame with a white veil of sorts hanging from railings lining the topmost of the frame that could be drawn to semi-hide whatever may be on the bed. Though the sheets may have been a créme color, the large, thick blanket with matching pillow cases was a shiny mint with a panda design where the black fur was replaced by green and the panda's fur was really soft for ultimate comfort at night. Why a panda? Mirajane felt that the panda was, in a way, a representation of herself, and that if she were in the Wizarding World it would be her patronus, or animal that represents her true self during the casting of the patronus charm, as the panda, though cute and rather thought quite harmless at first sight, is actually just as dangerous as other bears and still has a caring side.

Mirajane's bed's size is actually quite beneficial for her and her social life, as she not only enjoys feeling like a queen, but has a rather large friend group that comes over often, and her boyfriend, Laxus, is one of the largest students in the school, creating a need for large furniture for when he comes over because of his sheer size. Directly across from her bed, on the right wall, was a _humongou_ s 5-foot-wide, 4-foot-tall, flat screen TV hanging on the wall. Said TV could do so much more than show the girls' favorite television shows and movies, thanks to Levy. With the bluenette's programming skills, that TV could do just about anything. In between the TV and the fireplace stood a set of tall, dark brown double doors locked from the inside, pretty much the only non-pastel thing in the room. Only those who had a key could get in and knew what was inside. Nevertheless, many special things, expensive things, occurred in that room.

After setting down Mirajane, Erza and Juvia each took a seat in the parallel armchairs and caught their breath. Carrying dead-weight Mirajane was no easy feat, as she was far heavier than her widely-admired attractive appearance would suggest. Once the redhead and bluenette teenagers were rested enough, they promptly got up, and headed back downstairs, but not without conversation.

"Oh, Juvia, I've been wanting to talk to you about the MASF as well as the Jr. FNSC and the AKCSCE."

"Yes, of course, Erza-san. Juvia is aware that they are coming up."

"I don't mean right now, but just a head's up, I will be talking to you about them."

"Okay, Erza-san!" the bluenette called joyfully as she headed to the kitchen to see how else she could help.

Erza simply went back upstairs and, borrowing Levy's laptop due to lack of having one herself, got to work on her Student Council duties while keeping an eye out for when Mirajane woke up.

* * *

 **Okay, can I just say that I'm sorry for such a late update? Can I just say that? My life is pretty hectic right now, and if you have Wattpad, if you check out my profile on there at Red_King_Royalty and view the author's note of this chapter of this fic on there, I list my life. It's really not good right now. Of course, I posted that about 3 1/2 weeks ago, but for the most part it's still just as screwed up. I also apologize for updating this so long after I did my Wattpad version. I was having computer problems the day after I posted it when I went to post it here, and I just completely forgot or wasn't able to when I remembered to post it here until now. So yeah.**

 **By the way, I have two challenges for this fic that I haven't gotten a response to on Wattpad as of yet, so if you respond at all you basically win. Anyways, I want you to guess what's behind the dark double doors in Mira's room that I mentioned, as well as to guess what the MASF, Jr. FNSC, and the AKCSCE all have in common. I'm taking one winner for the first challenge if you guess close enough to the answer, and three winners maximum for the second challenge if you respond at all, or if more than three people respond, then the three that get the closest answers. If you win either challenge then you get a say in what happens during the scenes involving that thing as long as it doesn't stray too far from the plot. For the second challenge, I have three winners maximum because that's three different parts of the story. If you win, I'll PM you about it and announce it in a chapter. I'm not sure when the deadline for the challenges will be, but I'll announce it in another author's note, so keep an eye out.**

 **Anyways, thanks again to _violet2971_ for reviewing Chapter 2. I like reviews, so please keep them coming!**

 **Sorry for the late update, please participate in the challenges or feel responsible for making me feel sad, and I wanna know: Who can guess who's on the other end of the phone when Meredy picks it up? The next chapter focuses on Gray's life, so _violet2971_ , your questions on him and others will most likely be answered there. ;)**

 **Happy Late Valentine's Day, Happy Late New Years', have a good day, and thanks for reading! :)**

 **-RR, February 18, 2017**

 **P.S. The word count for this chapter is 4633 words. :)**


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